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M'Kyuun

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  1. M'Kyuun
    Liking him, Kuma?
  2. M'Kyuun
    Even though I don't like the design, it's not so much a shellformer as a turn-inside out former, which involves some clever engineering. It's incredibly clean in both modes, so I give credit where it's due. I didn't think it transformed at all from the initial bot pics. Pretty impressive.
  3. M'Kyuun
    That makes two of us. I had had designs on picking up a couple of the Studio Series figures, especially Blackout, but having had them in my hands, I just have no interest anymore. I just don't like the aesthetic, and the upcoming Bumblebee Movie doesn't improve my outlook- it's still Bayverse, just shard-lite. Show me a movie where he looks more like Generations, G1 MP, or Alternators, then I'll be interested. But, for the folks who like Bayformers, I'm glad there are figures out there for you, too. I realize not everyone is a G-Oner. That said, that G1 Prime facing off against Bayformer Prime looks nice- reminds me of MP-01. The shopped photos of OP V3 above look alright, although the gaps in his torso are still pretty obvious. Think I like the center pic best- the darker red and blue stand out, and the head looks better to me. Finally scored a copy of TR Blitzwing, who I previously, and most regrettably, passed on in the store. Not sure why I passed on it ; he's easily my favorite of the triple changers, so he should have been a no-brainer purchase. Anyway, I have him now, and I'm loving him- it's not perfect, but still a pretty damned good update of the G1 toy, and just a fun figure to mess around with and transform. As much as I like the previous Generations Blitzwing, with the new figure, there's a better balance between jet and tank as afar as realism goes, and it's far more solid across all three modes. Glad I finally got him.
  4. M'Kyuun
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/former-toys-r-us-ceo-works-to-reboot-the-retailer/ar-AAz9nRf?ocid=spartanntp
  5. M'Kyuun
    Why do I get a feeling that the whole front of his truck mode folds up onto his back? It almost seems like they made the new Optimus torso, and then created a cabover shell around it. Looking forward to transformation vids; I'm thinking there's going to be a lot of panel origami on this figure. The legs look good, though, as well as overall proportions (glad the ape arms are fixed). I'm thinking the top of his cab area in bot mode is going to be similar to MP Megatron's torso with all the folded stuff visible rather than a nice smooth cab roof. Not my preference, but not a deal-breaker either.
  6. M'Kyuun
    Whatever legal actions these former employees take, I hope they come out victorious. They were robbed of their jobs/careers/retirements, we as a country lost an institution, and the bastards behind the fall of TRU walked away with impunity. Reminds me of the mortgage shenanigans from back around 2008 or so.
  7. M'Kyuun
    Sorry to hear about the delay, Kuma. Hopefully, all will work out, and he'll be in front of your camera by week's end. I think you'll dig him. I have him posing with my other Decepticons in my living room, and it still gives warm fuzzies to look at him. MMC did an amazing job. Of course, I must confess bias, as he's my favorite of the cassettes, and the cassettes are some of my favorite Transformer designs. Saying that, I still fence-sat for this guy for about a year before committing. Money well spent, IMHO. Love him. I sprung for the Toyhax labels, which improves his cassette mode immensely, although he's rarely in tape mode, admittedly. Other than his neck, which is limited by virtue of the design, in all other respects he's just a very dynamically poseable figure. I think you'll have fun doing a shoot with him. I hope so, and look forward to any galleries you share. Again, best wishes to you, and hope all works out satisfactorily.
  8. M'Kyuun
    Just visited our local store today, probably for the last time, as they're within about 60 days of final closure. LEGO and Transformers are my hobbies, and they had neither. It was a sad feeling to walk through the store, as I have bought any number of LEGO sets there over the years, and often looked forward to their exclusives. Even on visits when I didn't make a purchase, I always enjoyed just walking around the store. There used to be a cashier who always remembered us when we came in, and though she left the area several years ago, those memories remain as well. It's extremely disheartening to see a homegrown business that soared to such great heights under the leadership of its founder fall asunder so poorly due to mismanagement of finances by its new owners. I'm glad the name will remain alive in other countries, but it's lamentable that it died an unseemly death in its home. I'm going to miss Toys R Us.
  9. M'Kyuun
    If this puts you off, you'll be even less impressed with their take on Red Alert (Recon). Lots of liberties with the car mode. Personally, I'm not crazy about it; I think Steamroll looks much better, but there are still niggles I have with bot mode, particularly those long plain shins. It just needs some texture, or a little color- something to break up that black plank beyond the silver trapezoids at the knee. I'm thinking TT will likely make an upgrade for Sideswipe in the near future; he was their first MP car bot, and placing Sunstreaker next to him illuminates how far they've come with the engineering. The plus side is that Sideswipe won't need the additional car transformation, so they should be able to turn out a much more svelte bot. But, as Kuma says, Steamroll is a nice looking stand-in, and just seems like a fun figure on its own. While the wide chest of MP Sideswipe doesn't bother me as much as other folks, I think BC's solution was eloquently incorporated, as it has little impact on either mode beyond the intended aesthetic. That Pointblank looks lovely; never had the original, but as a kid, I used to often peruse the toy brochures that came with TFs and I remember always liking his design, both bot and car. I hope Has/Tak do the Targetmasters as part of PotP, and this guy makes the lineup.
  10. M'Kyuun
    Films like this, and I'll argue the Incredibles, cater far more to a more mature audience. Kids like the visuals, all the bright colors, music, and the humor, but most kids under 10 or so probably don't pick up on the mature themes- losing a loved one, or, in Bob Parr's case, not having the strength, despite his super strength, to handle losing his family. Those themes hit emotional buttons that I don't think kids can really understand. Heck, even the Kung Fu Panda movies, esp the first two, stir the emotional pot. I'm glad, in the case of the Dragon movies, that the writers didn't water down those themes. The actors did a great job really conveying emotion and feeling, and it elevates the movies beyond kid-fare, for which I'm appreciative, as being an anime fan, I've long understood that mature themes can be explored in animation, and the emotion still carries despite whether the characters are real, drawn, or created in a computer. That said, I hope Dragon 3 carries the tradition forward.
  11. M'Kyuun
    Having watched reviews of both BC Lambos, I much prefer their take on Sideswipe. IMHO, they took too much liberty with the car mode for Recon, their Red Alert, and it affects how the bot mode looks. The engineering is great on both, however, especially the conversion of the hood pieces to accommodate each mode- well executed. weapon storage is another plus; take notes, TT. All that said, there's still something that seems off to me in the bot mode. I think it's the plainness of the shins, aside from the trapezoids at the knee on Steamroll, and the stark black on Recon. The shins just look like long black planks to me, and visually, it just doesn't appeal. But, it serves the official slavishly toon look, so I can't really fault them. It's just a case where too plain is, well, too plain. I'm visual, so I like some detail to break things up. In all honesty, I still like the way the official Sideswipe looks- the slightly chunkier proportions, the wide chest, I like it. But, this toon-centric trend shows no sign of ending, so for now plain figures are the way, and I can at least appreciate the engineering going into them, especially from an articulation standpoint. These are the toys I dreamed of when TFs were hitting the market back in '84.
  12. M'Kyuun
    The first two were incredible films, with lots of heart, humor, great characters, and good stories. Hopefully they can maintain, if not surpass them.
  13. M'Kyuun
    http://news.tfw2005.com/2018/06/21/official-images-of-masterpiece-convoy-optimus-prime-version-3-2019-from-figure-king-magazine-366040 Clearer pics of MP Optimus V3. Lots of origami and a pretty gappy torso. OTOH, looks like his poseability will be markedly improved, including what looks like a hinge under his ab grill. Surprised they didn't do a little Obari pelvic thrust for the promos. I can see Kuma shaking his head disappointedly at the lost opportunity. Looking at the Magic Square offering in comparison, theirs cleans up much better in bot mode while still retaining a strong toon resemblance. Not sure how I feel about V3 yet. Admittedly, I like official toys, and I generally like TT's engineering, so I'm reserving judgement until some in-hand reviews start showing up. Their Megatron pretty much had me from first showing (although I still don't care for how the torso looks with all the sandwiched origami and a plate slapped on to form his chest). But in hand, Megs is a pretty impressive figure, chest notwithstanding. The leg transformation is a sublime bit of engineering, and until now, one of the greatest challenges to balancing the bulk of the leg with the slimmer gun grip in a transforming toy. With V3, I still find the inclusion of a toon accurate bot windshield to be superfluous, but I'm hoping the tradeoff is insane poseability, including some serious butterfly joints for the shoulders. Anyway, this popped up on TFW2005 this morning, so I thought I'd share. Cheers!
  14. M'Kyuun
    Cool, lookin' forward to Thursday. Fig looks good (nice pic of the Lambo Bros, Kuma). BC def going the toon direction- those legs are pretty plain, even with the silver trapezoids on his shins. Could do with a little more texture, IMHO, but overall, he still looks good-unmistakably Sideswipe. And, he certainly fits right in with Streaker. Edit: Just noticed his car windows hanging off his arms; funny they didn't try to fold those into his arms somehow.
  15. M'Kyuun
    Working on a video review, Kuma? Curious to see how he compares to MP Sunstreaker, and just plain curious. Looks good just from what's been shown thus far. Even before seeing a review, my apprehension is off-scale high for getting this figure, as it'd be my luck TT would announce Sideswipe V2 with all the bells and whistles that define his brother, minus the additional car transformation. While I have a couple third party duplicates in my MP collection, I try to keep them to a manageable low.
  16. M'Kyuun
    Curious to see those guys, too. If you've got them coming or plan to get them, Kuma, I'm looking forward to your review. Sorry to hear you'll be delayed, though. Been there. I'm wondering if TT are going to go back and do an update, since Sideswipe feels dated next to his shiny new bro in all his articulated glory. Honestly, though I wouldn't mind an update, there are so many characters I'd rather see TT do that haven't yet received official MP treatment. Jazz and Hound top my list.
  17. M'Kyuun
    At least in shape, and with that forward fuselage add-on, they achieved a well shaped shuttle that looks closer to the real thing than many competitors. Shame they didn't give it the third main engine bell and OMS. Colors aside, it would have made him feel 'complete'. My interest lies more in how Magic Square's MP Optimus is going to compare to TT's V3. From pics, it already looks like it's going to clean up better in bot mode, and aside from having a chunky back end, makes for a lovely truck mode as well. If the V3 ends up being kibbly and way overcomplicated to achieve its bland bot mode, I may go with MS. Very curious to see reviews of this guy.
  18. M'Kyuun
    I can see both sides of the argument: JBO nailed it insofar as the toys had an authentic mechanical look to them, had the alt mode parts obvious but often used in clever ways to achieve or enhance the bot mode, and often had superfluous, yet cool, mechanical details molded in or added by virtue of stickers. Like you said, they looked like they turned into something else because they could, and that was all the gimmick they've ever needed, IMO. It's what fascinated me then, and continues to fascinate me as an adult. On the contrary, due to the limits of tech, or just b/c Takara was cheap, or b/c standards at the time were really low for toys, the depiction of the toys in the toon often had better proportions (more anthropomorphic), but most importantly, they had full articulation. I bought my first Transformer, Prowl, because of the cool depiction of him in his boxart. That's what I expected to have in my hands when I opened him up. I still recall the disappointment at discovering his non-articulated uni-leg. And the same feeling punctuated many of my other TF purchases, so I started trying to buy figures that had at least limited articulation in the legs. G1 Soundwave and his cassettes were one of my early purchases that gave me hope- not to mention the whole idea of carrying his minions around in his chest was just mind-blowingly cool to me. Still is. I digress. For me, a marriage of the cartoon look and articulation with the mechanical look and details of the toy is the ideal. I think that's what Hasui was going for, a balance of both, with a stronger leaning towards toon for the bot look, and a high sense of realism for the alt. But now, I think Takara are leaning too much towards the toon look for the bot mode, eschewing much of the detail that made the original toys cool to just look at. But I guess until attitudes change about that in Japan, very realistic alts that become very bland bots is what we can expect in the foreseeable future. But, I will give credit to TT for improving the articulation, if Sunstreaker is the standard they're going for. On that front, it's a pretty impressive figure.
  19. M'Kyuun
    Not the best. You're paying for the plastic, not so much the engineering. But, Transformers toys these days are all over the place in terms of engineering. The TR deluxes got the most love of any recent releases- some really neat figures with mildly complex transformations that looked good in both modes. Not to mention, most of them turned out to be fun toys. This looks to be a step back, but it's still superior to the CW Constructicons. Still, think I'll pass.
  20. M'Kyuun
    I dunno, they gave Bee the personality of a loyal dog rather than a sentient robot with many thousands of Earth years' experience. He's a little too obsequious and attention needy, snuggling up to her hands-weird and creepy. I think making him more like a big brother, without all the cowering and neediness, would have been more fitting and less Hallmark. I think they struck the right note with Bee's and Spike's relationship in the old toon- they were more like equals, best friends. It didn't get weird.
  21. M'Kyuun
    That's just ...adorable. IF are knocking it out of the park with these legends sized figures. He makes for a pretty boxy tank, but I'm loving his bot mode. Would've been worth a few extra cool points if they'd made his tank mode closer to the Sicaran Battle Tank from Warhammer 40K, one of my favorite sci-fi tank designs. I'd love a 3P go at making a transforming version of that tank.
  22. M'Kyuun
    This looks good- just the dialog/interaction between the characters has my interest. I also like the art style they went with- lots of mo-cap going on, but it has a clean realistic look that I like. Additionally, I know little to nothing about the other wallcrawlers, so this will be a nice orientation into the larger Spidey Universe for me.
  23. M'Kyuun
    MP-01 required no thought-instant purchase when it first became available. I was TDY to England at the time, and IIRC, I had it delivered there b/c I just couldn't wait to get him. Honestly, he didn't disappoint. His truck mode was lacking, sure, but, that bot mode was pure joy. Then along came MP-10, and all I saw were the too-long arms and those damnable wheel wells jutting out of his legs. So, I fence-sat for about a year, all the time seeing pics of MP-10 here and there, and more and more thinking it didn't look so bad after all. I still think he's a nice Prime figure, but the original niggles I have with the figure remain, and I've been open to a V3 that corrected those issues. Now that he's been shown, faux parts notwithstanding, it's a pretty sure bet I'll be adding this guy to my collection. I hope, however, that he cleans up well, and those hinged panels we can see aren't part of some sizeable backpack. I still don't understand why the windshield, of all things, would ever need to be replaced by faux parts so long as they go with a G1 styled cabover. Guess we'll see why they went that route once more is known.
  24. M'Kyuun
    I also noticed the hinged panel on his back, which brings thoughts of his having a Sunstreakery backpack. Hope not. Hasui managed a really clean torso on MP-10, and one would think the goal would be to be as good, and hopefully better, than MP-10 all the way around.
  25. M'Kyuun
    Concerning PV3, looking at it with fresh eyes this morning, those pictures are rather poor, so I'm reserving judgment about the faux windows thing. That's a lot of real estate to try and hide, and just seems pointless to me, especially when the front wheels and such all need to fold into his torso. The grill, I get, and that's been a tradeoff for awhile now in any number of Prime figures. I wouldn't mind if it was the truck's actual grill, just hinged to fold for bot mode, but that never seems to be the route taken. Seems it'd be easier to do than try and hide a second grill, though. Anyway, I'm not hitting any panic buttons just yet; I'll wait for better pics (front and back)/ early promo vids (if TT do any)/ in-hand reviews before making a final decision. As it is in all its grainy goodness, it looks alright to me thus far, certainly far more proportionally so than its predecessor. And the pelvic section, comparing with my PotP Leader Prime, looks about the same overall, except PV3 has longer skirts that make the whole look larger. Just an observation. I will say, I kinda agree with lechuck in a previous post concerning the option of just buying PV3 without the trailer, especially if they make the new and old compatible (they probably won't, but you never know). My MP-10 trailer has been out of it's box once or twice in all the years I've owned it. So, the option would be nice, if only to bring down the price and save space.
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